Mentioning the trials set to face future classic car enthusiasts (in the piston design thread), set me thinking about where engine collecting might be heading. There are a few cars about which look set for classic status (for instance the Mazda MX5 looks set to become just as well loved as the MGB), but where are the future collectable stationary engines?
I don't see anything post 1940's/1950's as being that 'classic' as most makers were into vertical and air-cooled construction almost exclusively by them, with a few notable and noteworthy exceptions such as Ruston & Hornsby with the HR series, Blackstone with some of their larger engines and Robey who made horizontal diesels up to the end. Fielding & Platt are another company sadly missed.
Lister CS diesels will always be a collectible engine, and there are others (through rarity) such as the Stuart-Turner diesels, the Turner diesels which I quite liked and others. Pelapone also comes to mind.
A nice early engine which I fancied but never got hold of was the water-cooled Armstrong, Whitworth vertical engine.
All of these are diesels, there are few large petrol engines after the 1940's, nearly all were over to diesel by then. Smaller air-cooled units (sorry, John!) probably won't reach classis status in our lifetimes. Peter
-- Peter & Rita Forbes snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Engine pages for preservation info:
I can't think of much as a post-war design that's attractive enough to want to collect. There have been some very successful stationary engines since, but not for me. Will I ever get into Honda generators??
Strangely, in the moving engines world (as opposed to stationary) there have been all manner of wonderful engines since the war.
Masses of splendid innovative Italian designs with art-quality castings; many great Japanese & continental multi-ohc jobbies; Wankels; some stunning aircraft engines. I've got a variety of these -- mainly wrapped with chassis by Laverda, Ducati, Gilera, Capriolo & a few others. I've resisted the aircraft so far .....
Some of us like technical innovation, some like landmark social impact of our engines, some (including me ...) just like stationary engines where you see all the big bits working slowly
Few stationaries designed since 1950 meet ground-breaking & universally interesting technical innovation criteria, & very few are aesthetically pleasing. Ergo, not much attraction to me.
Mind you, would you have expected folk to collect Bond Minicars or NSU Quickly's? ......... so there's a home for most rusty relics. Colin Osborne
However, things like the Lister SR range were used in a vast array of equipment (stationary or otherwise - I prefer the railway loco and canal boat applications) and are worthy of preservation
They're now as much apart of History for the younger generations as Amancos and the like are to us - the trouble is, we remember when they were used in anger! (At least I do.....)
Brian L Dominic
Web Sites: NB Rumpus:
So it looks like collectable engines are a finite resource, unlike vehicles where each new generation of enthusiasts seems to find new candidates for their attentions.
I must admit I couldn't think of any engines around now which seem likely to exite in the future. Mind you, if some of the prophets of doom are right, any internal combustion engine could have at least some curiosity value sooner than we think!
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